Lawrence Durrell was born on February 27, 1912 in Jullundur, India to British parents. During World War II, he served as a British press officer. His first novel, Pied Piper of Lovers, was published in 1935, but was considered a failure. Some of his other works include The Black Book, The Alexandria Quartet, The Avignon Quintet, and Caesar's Vast Ghost: A Portrait of Provence. Bitter Lemons won the Duff Cooper Prize in 1959. He died on November 7, 1990 at the age of 78.
ROBERT RYAN is an author, journalist and screenwriter. He was born in Liverpool and moved to London to study natural sciences at university. He began his writing career in the late 1980s for The Face, Arena and the US edition of GQ, before moving to a staff job in the Sunday Times. In 1999, after the publication of his first novel, Underdogs, he left to go freelance, although he is still a frequent contributor to the newspaper. He has published a total of twelve novels under his own name, the latest being Death on the Ice, and two (Steel Rain and Copper Kiss) as Tom Neale. The latter have been optioned by Fremantle TV with a view to creating a TV series. Ryan is currently working on his… next novel and a variety of television projects. Find out more at www.robtryan.com